Pokemon Neo: Third String Ran
by Sapphire Knight
Summary: This is a Pokemon fic I started a long time ago with a few of my friends.
1. Chords of Fate

Destinies Bound Overwrite

By GameGuardian2x

Author's notes

Previous (before November 2002) readers of this fic will find that the first two chapters have been completely overhauled. This is because of two reasons:

First of all, the non-chronological format was confusing **me**. It's never good when a fic confuses it's own writer.

Secondly, the original tone of the fic was far more dark. Thanks to many joke contributions by my esteemed friends, the fic has become somewhat lighter in vein, and some of the darker themes have been reassigned to a future fic, tentatively named 'Heart of the Storm.' Some of the Dark themes however, remain.

String 2: Links

First Chord: Scatterings

_You cannot escape your destiny, but you can meet it on your own terms._

"Wow, Chris, you really have an Ampharos?" Ming touched the Pokeball carefully, as if it might snap at him any second.

"Yep. I got it in a trade for a Pichu." Chris grinned uneasily at his friend. Ming desperately wanted to be a Trainer, but his dad refused to sigh the release form that would let him start training at 10 instead of twelve. Chris sometimes got the impression that his friend was jealous.

"Can I see?"

"Well, alright. Go Rath!"

"Amph!" Chris's new Ampharos popped out of its Pokeball.

"Cool," Ming chortled. "Can you use it to Thunderwave my sister?"

"No."

"But she's really annoying!"

"No!"

The young boy ran through the woods. Despite his haste, he kept an eye on the foliage around him. Jason was out there somewhere, and Brandon was determined to get to the goal before him. His eyes swept over one particular patch of grassless soil. He smiled to himself. It was a clever trap, but it would take more than that too fool him. He launched himself at a nearby tree, and started climbing up. Domino could place as many land mines as she wanted. They would do her no good if her target was in the treetops.

Craig patiently recalibrated the fickle machine as Sydney busied herself with checking the computers for glitches. Craig let out a sigh. What the boss wanted of him was quite impossible. There was no way to imbue a person with psychic powers; they had to be born with them. But one did not argue with Giovanni. The machine beeped, indicating a successful self-test, and Craig returned it to it's shelf. "Syd, give me a test run on S-21"

The machine sputtered and promptly died. Craig sighed again. "Well, that didn't work. So much for the best laboratory in Indigo."

Joy tugged at her mother's elbow. "Mom, can I go with you now? I'm ten now, you said I could go with you to work when I turned ten."

Joy Burke turned to look at her daughter, Joy Cario. Despite the family genes, and the league-designed "conformity" drugs, Cario had rich black hair rather than the usual reddish shade. "Sure, honey, just dye your hair, and try to stay out of sight, OK?"

"Wow, thanks mom!" Cario was already smearing ARColor Hair Shade into her hair. A fairly recent innovation, ARColor created a relatively thick, but temporary coating over one's hair, rather than actually dying it. This allowed dark haired individuals to avoid the rather painful bleaching process, and doubled as hair gel as well. Unfortunately, ARColor was only good for about 40 hours, after which it started to melt off rather messily. Burke made a mental note to remind her daughter to wash her hair when they got home.

Burke sighed as she stuffed her stethoscope into her bag. _"Was I ever this eager?"_ She shook her head. She could only hope and pray. Soon, too soon, Joy would be on her own. By league rules, Joy was out of her custody at age fourteen. Zipping up her now fully packed bag, Burke placed it near the door and went to help her daughter with the hair shade.

Brandon jumped another tree. _"Good thing these trees have thick branches."_ He paused for a moment. (Just to get his bearings; he wasn't tired or anything… ok, maybe he was.) With the characteristic luck that had always served him so well, Brandon realized that the next tree, the one he had been planning to jump to, was a trap. A slight crevice in the tree had been expanded, to allow the fitting of some sort of device. Well, it looked like Domino was wise to him. Brandon jumped down from his tree, and continued his journey on foot, now more cautiously. _Just like Domino to be watching us and adding to the obstacles as we go along._

Ben hopped onto the rock and looked around. "All clear!" the little Charmander called.

"Good," Hydro the Squirtle said. "Let's get going then."

"Do you even know where we're going?" Zephyr the Bulbasaur asked unhappily. "We're just wandering in circles here. What we need is a plan."

"What can we do?" Hydro snapped.

"I know!" Ben cried. "We'll find trainers. As long as we have trainers as cover, it'll be much harder for those 'rocket scientist' to find us."

"That'll really work," Zephyr said sarcastically.

"Well I haven't seen you come up with a plan, Plant-girl."

"Excuse me! I'm a Grass type. Not plant. Grass!"

"Oh, brother," Hydro groaned.

Lisa slammed her palm on the disconnect button, severing the Vid-phone link to the place she had once called home. Her parents were still telling her to abandon her "wild dreams" and find a "Real Job." Strangely, they were not averse to plundering her Trainer Account, forcing her to open a separate account and do odd jobs to stay solvent. "_Well daddy dear had better get off his lazy behind and find an honest job, because this is the last time he's using my winnings to buy liquor."_ Still fuming, she walked to the counter of the Pokecenter. The local Nurse Joy stopped dictating to her D-Mac, and came over. Lisa noticed that Joy was showing signs of age. _"Due for retirement soon. That must have been her replacement I saw at the Delibird's Trainer Café earlier. They're all so similar… Some machine must roll them out."_

"Can I help you?" Lisa marveled at how Joy managed a smile and somehow was able to sound at least mildly interested in Lisa's request. _"If I had her Job, I'd be packing heat, and waving it around every time some spoiled rich brat complained about accommodations."_

"Uhm, yeah, I'd like to remove all secondary users from my Trainer Account." Lisa forced herself to smile at Joy. _"She probably needs a break even more than I do."_

"Can I have some identification please?" Joy was already keying up the older league standard Pory-Net terminal. Lisa grimaced as she pulled out her old-style Pokedex. Most Trainers these days had Pokegears, but Lisa couldn't afford them, let alone advance models. The old model didn't seem to bother Joy at all, but them again, she too had an old model terminal. She merely turned the Pokedex over and held the scanner over the I.D. chip.

A moment later, the computer beeped. "Trainer Lisa Wu. Registry number 01450625. Current status: League Trainer, D-class"

Joy punched a few keys, and then turned the keypad to Lisa. "Password?" Wordlessly, Lisa entered it. Joy spun the pad back to her and entered the command. "Done" she announced, attempting to sound cheerful. "Will there be anything else?"

"No thank you ma'am." Lisa turned and headed for the trainer hostel section.

Brandon cut the line connecting the pressure pad below the fnce to whatever countermeasure Domino had rigged. He then slipped through underneath the wire as his Elekid held it taunt, careful to maintain the electric current. He smiled as he recalled the advice that had him muddying his uniform.

Flashback (One in every chapter, guaranteed… LOL just kidding)

(Warning! Starcraft Lingo)

The Dragoons ran with his Hydralisks in pursuit. Outnumbered 7 to 3, Chris had little recourse but to run. Of course, it was probably part of his strategy, but Brandon had 5 Mutalisks waiting for that contingency. It was no surprise when his Hydralisks started taking damage. Chris always covered his retreats.

Brandon smirked as his Overlord exposed Chris's Dark Templars. Ordering his Mutalisks to engage them while his Hydralisks retreated, he typed in a taunt. So much for the fast kill, Chris.

The next moment he yelped as the Templars again faded from view. "What the…" It took only a moment to realize what had transpired. Chris had used a Dark Archon to mind-control his Overlord. Brandon ordered his mutas to engage the Overlord, while his Hydralisks scrambled for cover in the form of another Overlord. Chris however, surprised him by, instead of retreating his Dark Archon as he usually did, ordering it to Maelstrom his mutas. One Mutalisk escaped the spell and proceeded to make the Dark Archon pay, but Chris's Dragoons chewed it apart and started on its companions.

Brandon checked his Hydras, but Chris had retreated his Dark Templars. The message Did you think I had only one back-up? flashed on the screen. Brandon ignored it as he rallied his three remaining mutas to retreat. Unfortunately, he got another one of them mind-controlled, as Chris had used the time to bring another Dark Archon on scene. This time the Dark Archon fled, and Brandon let his mutas kill the controlled one rather than pursue.

If there was only one trick to it, it'd be a pretty sad trap

Brandon glared at the message. Chris had him there.

End Flashback 

Brandon pulled himself to a kneeling position. He gestured, and Paras moved forward. The small plant/bug type moved in intervals feeling the ground and sensing for burrowed security measures. Brandon gestured to Elekid, who retied the wires and joined him, following Paras at a crawl. _"Pretty nasty trap. Pressure pad under the fence for fools who try to just sneak under it and both current and tension sensors on the wire. Chris would love it. Not that I'd ever tell him."_

As you probably guessed, I used this chapter to introduce some of the secondary characters. I hope ya likes 'em, cuz they be back.

Review Please. Pretty please? Pretty please with Daikon and Peanuts on top?


	2. Chapter 1

"Ok, I'm in." Joy Cario whispered hastily into the microphone hidden in her collar. She looked around the large brightly lit complex. Hallways led to recreation rooms and what looked like a cafeteria. "Almost like any other PokeCenter, except this one's invite only." Cario laughed softly into the mic hidden in her collar as several low level NeoRocket trainers engaged in casual conversation walked past and entered one of the rec rooms.

"Just be careful. I want you to get in and out without getting caught." Ash Ketchum's voice crackled in her earpiece.

"Don't worry. I was stationed here before. They won't suspect anything." Cario responded as she confidently started her walk towards the doors that separated the NeoRocket trainees from the NeoRocket officials. She easily weaved her way through the relatively secret NeoRocket base. She swiped a keycard forcing the large glass and steel doors to open with a hydraulic hiss. "I'll be in the records vault soon. Just a few more offices to pass." Cario whispered into the small mic.

"Just be careful! If we can get these files, we may be able to stop NeoRocket's Psionic development projects." Ash crackled over Joy's earpiece.

"I know. And I know that I'm the only one you have that can get anywhere near these files. You guys owe me." Joy glanced nervously about as she swiped the keycard opening up the path to the relatively protected Records storage area. She had never actually been past this point, though all NeoRocket Pokemon medics were given access to almost all NeoRocket facility areas in case of an emergency. "Sigh, I owe it all to the person who got me into this mess to start with." She cursed. She was forced into thinking about everything that had happened to her in the last few years that allowed her to walk through this secret NeoRocket training facility unhindered.


	3. Chapter 2

After several years as an official nurse, Cario was stationed at a PokeCenter in Azalea town. The league probably sent her there so that she wouldn't disturb league continuity by having black hair, after all, no one stopped by the Azalea town PokeCenter unless they had a grass type team. She had been stuck here for some time. Cario watched the gym battles regularly on her counter computer. Two new trainers entered the PokeCenter, high fived each other and went straight for the vending machine, showing off their new HiveBadges. She stood up and smiled in the traditional Joy fashion.

"Man! Did you see that?" The older one shouted. "I beat his entire team with my Ampheros!" The older of the two boys sat in one of the trainer sofas, while his friend walked up to the counter and warily handed Cario his Pokeballs.

"They're in pretty bad shape." the younger one said as he watched her put the Pokeballs onto a tray.

"Don't worry. I can get rid of any poison that Bugsy sends my way." Cario responded, happy to get any business at all.

"I told you not to use Gloom, Ming." The trainer on the couch laughed loudly as he watched the worried expression on his friend's face.

"You had to have an only grass type team to actually get beaten by Bugsy anyway" Cario mused as she watched Bugsy get beaten down over and over and over again on the monitor by another set of trainers. "And no one except gym leaders has a team based on one or two elements anymore." she sighed as she listened to the gentle hum of the rejuvenation machine.

"I'm surprised you even won that one." the trainer on the couch laughed again. Popping open his cola and taking a big swig from it.

"Hey! Shut up about it already. It's only because of me that your dad even let you start training outside of Kanto! O.K. Chris?" Ming shouted back, fed up with his friends pestering. "I can battle with the best of them!" he continued.

"Prove it." Chris countered as Cario handed Ming back his Pokeballs.

"Fine. I'll beat the next trainer who comes in here!" Ming shouted as he took a seat on the seat opposite the couch his friend was sitting on.

"Um, that might be a while." Cario interrupted. "Not that many trainers stop by here, and the regulars that do are pretty good." She warned as she tidied up a bit. In truth she was expecting a very regular trainer to walk through the door any moment now. He always showed up the same time and day every month to deposit stuff on the computerized storage system.

A few minuets passed as Chris began to organize the items in his trainer pack. The main door squeaked open and rang the bell Cario had hooked up. In stepped a male trainer in his early teens. His short brown hair seemed to absorb the light from the luminescent ceiling lights that seemed to stay on in all hours of the day, he was wearing an old trainer's pack and belt. "Oh, Ran. Right on time, by the way there's someone here to..."

"I challenge you to a battle!" Ming shouted as he interrupted Cario while jumping out of his chair. Surprised, Ran stopped and looked at the trainer.

"How many badges do you have?" Ran asked Ming as he continued his way to the counter.

"Five. Now lets battle!" Ming shouted impatiently.

"He would have had six if Lt.Surge hadn't fried his Charmander." Chris laughed.

"You're no match for me." The trainer replied as he handed Cario the items he wanted deposited.

"You know the drill." Cario almost laughingly responded.

"Fine, but you should know it by now." Ran replied as she swiveled the small audio password sensor in front of the trainer. "Sigh, Ahem Brandon Endlathall, trainer No. 33-2178." He spoke clearly into the device and waited for it to register.

"Gym Trainer Brandon Endlathall, Trainer No, 33-2178 of the Varidian City Gym, Gym Trainer S-4 class. Voice pass accepted. Transaction is on gym business and will not be monitored by League screening clause 45." The machine beeped as it processed his deposit.

"Oh, my god. I know you. Ming, don't battle him." Chris stood up as he recognized the trainer's name.

"You know me?" Ran turned as he looked at the other trainer.

"Chris. From Starcraft." Chris said as he put Brandon's name to all of his signature moves and tactics in the game.

"Ah, so you're Chris. It's an honor to meet you. And you would be?" He asked as he turned to the impatient trainer whom had just challenged him.

"It's Ming. Now lets battle!" Ming continued.

"Uh, I don't know if you were listing Ming, but he's a GYM trainer! An A-4 class trainer!" Chris shouted at his friend.

"Then I'll beat him like I beat the last three GYM LEADERS." Ming shouted back in a very cocky tone.

"Ok, I warned you. I have to watch this." Chris laughed as he stood up.

"Training field's out back. I'm coming along too, just in case something happens." Joy quickly put up her 'Back in 5' sign and grabbed her potion bag as she led them to the practice field.


	4. Chapter 3

"Ok, ok, fine. You can use my gym for the battle." Bugsy sighed as he signed the 'one battle' release papers for Joy.

"I'm sorry about this, I had no idea how bad our practice field was." Cario blushed as she snatched the papers back and the battlers took their opposing positions.

"What field? You mean that empty lot behind the PokeCenter?" Bugsy retorted, still bitter about his six losses so far today. As he, joy and Chris sat down in the spectator section.

"So, you seem to know Ran, What do you think?" Chris asked Joy as the official walked out into the arena to proceed with the formalities.

"I don't know. I've never had to heal his Pokemon before, and this will be the first time I've ever seen him battle." Joy responded as she straightened out her dress.

"A Three on three battle. If any trainer becomes unable to battle, He loses. Start." The official concluded as he walked off of the field.

"Go Godzilla!" Ming shouted as he launched his first Pokeball. With a flash of light, a Charmeleon appeared in the arena and roared.

"Well, strictly speaking, I was on Gym orders, so I guess I have to use Gym Pokemon." Ran sighed loudly. "But, ok. If that's the case. GO, Donphan!" Ran shouted as he unleashed a rather large Donphan into the arena.

"Burn it to a crisp Godzilla!" Ming shouted.

"C'mon Donphan! Let's ROLLOUT!" Ran countered. Gouts of flame shot across the arena as Godzilla's flamethrower heated things up, but Donphan rolled right into them and barely missed Godzilla as it turned for another pass.

"Watch it Godzilla!" Ming shouted as he watched the Donphan close in on his monster a second time. Donphan trashed the Charmeleon as it failed to jump out of the way in time.

"Good shot Donphan! Try it again!" Ran shouted encouraging the mighty ground type Pokemon.

"Yo, Ming. You can't just burn everything! You're fighting a Varidian city gym trainer! He's not weak against fire! Think Pewter city, Varidian city is known also known for its powerful ground and rock type monsters. Don't use fire." Bugsy shouted as he watched the Donphan circle for its third pass.

"He never listens." Chris winced as Donphan made a powerful connection, knocking the Charmeleon flat.

"I think I felt that." Cario winced as Donphan nailed the weak Charmeleon with its fourth pass.

"I know I felt that." Bugsy winced as Donphan continued its final pass, crushing the prone Charmeleon.

"Charmeleon is unable to eat solid food." The official shouted as he raised the green flag signifying a point to Ran.

"Hey! Cut the sarcasm!" Ming shouted irritably at the official.

"If I'd had remembered that Varidian city used ground and rock, I would have done this sooner! Go GLOOM!" Ming shouted as the Flower Pokemon appeared, replacing the crushed lizard.

"Ok, we have to get the first hit in, Donphan. ROLLOUT!" Ran shouted to his monster as it balled up and spun dangerously towards its new opponent.

"Sleep it!" Ming commanded as his Gloom thrashed about desperately trying to get out of the Donphan's path.

"It's not listening." Bugsy watched in amusement as the Donphan narrowly missed the plant Pokemon.

"I don't think I would listen either if that thing was coming straight at me." Chris continued as they watched Gloom launch a large cloud of pollen into the air.

"No Donphan! Watch out!" Ran shouted as Donphan rolled headlong into the cloud and promptly fell asleep.

"Donphan is unable to battle! Point to blue!" The official called out as the Donphan was recalled in a blaze of red light.

"GO MAROWAK!" Ran shouted. The Bone keeper Pokemon appeared on the field in another flash of light. "Stay away from the pollen and nail it at a distance with Bonemerang!" Ran commanded as his monster nodded in understanding and hurled its club at the giant flower.

"Not a bad call. But it doesn't seem like the Ran I've played against in Starcraft. No double tactics, no tricks. Not like him at all." Chris commented as he watched the Ground type monster slowly retreat from the growing pollen cloud while continually throwing its bone club to devastating effect.

"You want range? I'll give you range!" Ming shouted as his Gloom started glowing.

"Marowak! Watch out!" Ran called out to the ground type monster, but it was too late as his monster was engulfed by the light from Gloom's Solarbeam.

"So that's where Ming's money went." Chris told himself as he watched the official shout something and give Ming another point.

"One to two." The announcer called.

"Ok, fine. No more Gym issued monsters. Now I use my own!" Ran cursed in frustration. "Let's win this my old friend, Go STING!" A flash of light revealed Ran's third and final Pokemon. The humming instantly gave it away.

"Oh, no. A Beedrill." Chris stated as he watched the monster rise into the air.

"HA! I've dropped plenty of Beedrill in Ilex and Varidian forest! I'm not weak against you! Gloom is half poison!" Ming called out confidently as he ordered another Solarbeam.

"I'd be careful if I were you." Bugsy shouted at Ming. "A wild Beedrill is one thing, but a A-4 trained Beedrill is downright dangerous!"

"You want something to shoot at? I'll give you something to shoot at." Ran nodded to Sting as his Beedrill began to multiply. Gloom's beam decimated Sting's image as the Beedrill continued to multiply quickly. "Good, now SWARM!" Ran shouted as the cluster of Beedrills descended upon the confused Gloom, each using a different attack. Gloom couldn't defend itself from the onslaught and after several passes, the plant fainted.

"Oh, that's a new one." Bugsy said as he watched the swarm buzz furiously on the blue trainer side.

"It's a signature move, like Toxic. Only powerful trainers whom have a deep understanding of their monsters can develop them. You have to really know what your monster is capable of to pull one of those off." Bugsy continued as all three watched in disbelief.

"Can he really be so powerful? I mean, he can't be much older than I am, can he?" Cario asked Bugsy over the din of the Swarm.

"He's the strongest Gym trainer that Varidian has to offer. I don't see why not." Bugsy replied as Ming pulled out his new PokeGear.

"Swarm, TM54, not available to trainers yet." Ming's PokeGear beeped as it searched the wireless net for information on this new move. "The Pokemon makes duplicates of itself, and each one attacks at a fraction of the original's power using its own unique attack pattern and moves. The original monster is also weakened and subsequently also attacks at a fraction of its own power."

"That's not a sanctioned move!" Ming shouted in protest as he drew his final Pokemon.

"Tough. Watch, learn, Deal with it." Ran shouted back. Ming looked desperately at the official whom merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine, Go Noctowl!" Ming shouted as he sent out his last monster. "Ok, use Foresight to identify the real one!" Ming shouted as red beams shot out from Noctowl's eyes.

"Don't you get it? Didn't you hear the TM readout? All of them are real!" Ran responded cruelly to Ming's choice of attack as he held back the swarm to whitness the total confusion on Noctowl's face as it tried to discern its target.

"I want that TM." Bugsy whined as he enviously watched the mass of Beedrill slowly advance upon the Bird Pokemon.

"Ok, THAT'S the Ran whom I've played against." Chris laughed as he realized how deeply screwed his friend was and resigned himself to enjoying the rest of the match.

"I've got to reopen the PokeCenter. I know those two are going to need it." Cario said softly as she stood to leave.

"Wait, you may never get to see this move again." Bugsy grabbed her by the sleeve and pulled her back into her seat.

"FLY NOCTOWL! FLY!" Ming shouted desperately trying to distance his monster from the dangerous swarm. Ran turned and waved his hand at the swarm of Beedrills, as they rushed headlong into the retreating Pokemon. They engulfed it midair, and the pulsating swarm stood unwavering from its position. Soon the battered Noctowl fell from the sky and hit the arena floor with a bitter thud.

Back at the PokeCenter Joy began the task of healing the battered Pokemon. Ran's PokeGear rang, signifying an incoming call. He quickly picked it up and answered. "Moshi mosh... No, I just... Sir, I was... No sir, I didn't mean to... Yes I deposited... No sir I just intended to... WHAT? YOU NEED ME BACK NOW?... Jason did WHAT to my... Sir, There's someone here who... Yes sir, I'll see if she wants to... Goodbye." Ran slammed closed his PokeGear in frustration. "Gone for one week and Jason just HAS to find a way to get me back." Ran cursed as he began texting on his PokeGear.

"Sounds bad." Cario turned to give the trainers their Pokemon. "Yeah, it is." Ran responded lost in his text message.

"We'll battle again sometime." Chris offered as Ming went off to fume about cheap moves.

"I'd love to, but I have to go somewhere. I'm really sorry." Ran apologized as he clipped his PokeGear to his belt.

"Oh, Joy. I really need to talk to you in private." Ran called to her as he pulled a folder and pen from his bag.


	5. Chapter 4

"And that's how I became a part time Joy for NeoRocket." She mused to herself still remembering signing the NeoRocket contract. "It's all Ran's fault. His fault I am no longer just another sweet innocent Joy. His fault I have to follow procedure whenever I register outside of NeoRocket. His fault I have to watch what I do and who I talk to outside of NeoRocket facilities." Joy grumbled as she walked past the Rocket Official's offices.

"His fault your life is interesting and full of adventure." A rocket official added as he stepped into the hall behind her.

"RAN! WHAT the heck are you doing here?" She almost shouted as she stumbled and turned to face him.

"Joy, are you Ok?" Ash crackled over the earpiece.

"What?" Ran asked surprised as Joy took several deep breaths trying desperately to calm down. "Sorry, did I startle you? I was looking for someone when I noticed you passing the storage rooms…. Come to think of it, what are you doing back here?" He asked glancing her over.

"Uh, I was just…." Joy stuttered as she tried desperately to think something up. Suddenly Ran noticed something dart down the hall past her.

"There you are you thief! Gimme back my lunch Sparky!" He shouted as she turned just in time to watch a small yellow Pokemon disappear around the corner dragging a heavy bento behind it. "Excuse me" Ran shouted as he pushed past her, desperately chasing after the small Pokemon. Joy let out a sigh of relief as the Rocket disappeared around the corner.

"It's clear." She whispered into her mic as she quickly made her way to the back storage offices. The small keypad glowed with a soft red light. "Ok, what's the passkey?" Joy asked as she glanced around to make sure no one had seen her.


End file.
